Yesterday, the Department of Energy announced that Secretary Perry would be attending the EU-US Energy Council High-Level Forum in Brussels on May 2 – paving the way for a new Trans-Atlantic Trade Agreement with imports and exports of U.S. fracked gas at the heart of the deal. According to data released in early March, EU imports of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from the U.S. have increased by 181% since July 2018.

The letter highlights that the continued use and import/export of fracked LNG torpedoes critical climate targets and violates basic human rights. In 2012, the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) issued a “Global Alert” on fracking, concluding that fracking may have environmental impacts even if done properly.

“The LNG trade is paving the way for prolonged use of fossil fuels and plastics, creating a twin environmental and human rights emergency,” said Wenonah Hauter, Executive Director of Food & Water Watch and Food & Water Europe. “Governments on both sides of the Atlantic are failing to do what it takes to stand up to fracked gas interests and prevent looming climate chaos.”

The signatories state that new gas infrastructure has a significant economic lifespan (usually between 30 and 50 years) that goes beyond the point when we must fully decarbonize our energy systems. Ongoing use of fossil fuels like gas would also have devastating economic impacts on both sides of the Atlantic.

The letter also refers to what activist call the #Fracking4Plastics link, highlighting that the plastics industry has reaped under-the-radar benefits from the environmentally destructive fracking boom and an oversupply of cheap ethane. This surge has been a boon for the plastics industry, which relies on petrochemical manufacturing to turn ethane, a hydrocarbon present in natural gas, into plastics.

Beginning in 2012, chemical companies started aggressively investing in petrochemical plants and export facilities focused on tapping the ethane glut, creating further negative implications for human and environmental rights.

Food & Water Watch mobilizes regular people to build political power to move bold & uncompromised solutions to the most pressing food, water, and climate problems of our time. We work to protect people’s health, communities, and democracy from the growing destructive power of the most powerful economic interests.